


The Hunt

by historyofamanda



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Music, Romance, Shakarian - Freeform, Some Humor, scavenger hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 12:51:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6855424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historyofamanda/pseuds/historyofamanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garrus goes on an unplanned scavenger hunt around the Normandy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during the events of Mass Effect 2.

Kasumi was reading a book in the port observation deck, leaning back on the sofa. The doors wooshed open and she looked up.

"Garrus, hi. What's up? Happy Birthday, by the way. That is today, isn't it?"

Garrus looked down and scratched the back of his neck.

"Heh, yeah. Thanks. EDI told me to come and see you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm supposed to give you this."

Kasumi sat upright and handed Garrus a small package that had been sitting on the table next to her.

"What's this?" Garrus asked.

"Beats me." Kasumi smiled. "Just take it." 

Garrus chuckled. "Okay, thanks. Have you seen Shepard today by any chance? She's usually out and about by now, but her cabin is locked and I can't reach her by the intercom."

"No, sorry. I haven't seen her. I'm sure she's fine though, she's probably just still asleep."

Garrus walked out of the observation deck and leaned up against the wall next to the door. He unwrapped the package and opened the small black box. In it was a contraption that Garrus had never seen before. 

"What the hell-"

The machine had a small black base, and two circular pieces holding up a long, thin, rectangular piece. At the end of the rectangular piece was a black rubber piece shaped like a dinner plate. He pushed the piece down and it made a clicking noise. A small piece of paper was attached to the machine with a piece of string. It read, "Who's next?"  
The following symbols were underneath the words:  
".---- ----- ----- ----- -.-- . .- .-. ..."

Garrus stared at the machine and the note, utterly puzzled.

"EDI, what is this thing?"

There was an unusually long pause.

"Perhaps the extranet would be of assistance, Garrus." There was a more mischievous tone in the AI's voice than usual.

Garrus walked over to the Main Battery and put the machine under a scanner next to his computer. It flashed an orange light over the object and pulled up an extranet search result.

"The Earth telegraph was developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse. The telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication. It worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations. In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Samuel Morse developed a code that assigned a set of dots and dashes to each letter of the English alphabet and allowed for the simple transmission of complex messages across telegraph lines."

"Telegraph? Morse code? The hell is going on?" Garrus muttered to himself.

But being the type of turian he was, Garrus was not about to let a note and a strange earth machine stump him. He knew he'd started something he now had to finish. He sat down next to his computer, looking intently at the strange symbols.

"Okay, so this thing is supposed to type out this Morse code. Hmm."

Garrus thought for a moment and then quickly typed in "Morse code symbol translator" into the extranet search and read the table in front of him, comparing the chart to his note.

"1-0-0-0-Y-E-A-R-S" it spelled out.

"1000 years? Telegraph. Morse code. Morse....code. Code. Code! A thousand years old!"

Garrus jumped up out of his seat and rushed over to the observation deck on the other side of the third level. Samara sat on the floor, meditating. Out of Garrus' sight, she smiled slightly.

"Garrus. I wondered when you'd arrive."

"Hi Samara. What's going on, what is all this?"

"I am not the one to answer that question. I have simply been tasked to give an item to you."

The justicar used her biotics to lift up another small package. Garrus took it out of the air.

"Samara, I-"

"I am sorry Garrus, I must continue my meditation. I would suggest you finish your task as well. Happy Birthday, my friend."

Garrus exhaled and then laughed slightly, simultaneously amused and a bit exasperated.

"Thank you. I suppose I'm not going to get any more answers here then. See you later."

Garrus unwrapped the second package to reveal a small, blue square with a button that said "play" on top. 

The note attached read, "I promise this clue won't be quite so hard. Find who's next, space cowboy."

Garrus heard his earpiece ping as the device in his hand connected to it. A song played.

♫ Cause I'm a picker  
I'm a grinner  
I'm a lover  
And I'm a sinner  
I play my music in the sun♫ 

♫ I'm a joker  
I'm a smoker  
I'm a midnight toker  
I sure don't want to hurt no one♫

Garrus smiled.  
"Joker."  
  
To Garrus' surprise, he found himself enjoying the 210 year old song. He listened to the rest of it on his way to the cockpit.

Joker heard footsteps approach him and he quickly spun his chair around, a devilish grin on his face.  
"Well hello there, Mr. Gangster of Love."

"Joker, what the hell is going on? Please tell me you can tell me something about this."

Joker made a zipping motion over his lips with his hand.

"Nope! You're shit out of luck, lover boy. Here you go! Happy Birthday, man."

Joker tossed a third small package at Garrus, Garrus barely catching it before it could fall to the ground.

Garrus walked over and sat down in one of the chairs in the hallway leading to the galaxy map. He opened the box to reveal a photo of two human men:  


Garrus did a reverse image search using his visor and the names of these men were revealed to be W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Those names rang strangely familiar to him. He sat in silence for a moment, thinking to himself.  
  
_Aren't they those music men that Mordin won't shut up abou-Mordin._

Garrus walked quickly over to the research lab to find Mordin in the middle of dissecting a small creature he took an interest in on their last mission.

"Garrus. One moment. Examining creature, has regenerative limb capabilities. Fascinating. May lead to improvements in limb replacement technology for all species. Could synthesize tissue to-"

"Mordin-"

"Ah, yes. Right, right. Second to last package."

"Second to last?" Garrus sighed. "So can _you_ tell me what this is all about? Let me take a wild guess, probably not."

Mordin took off his gloves and walked over to a table in the back of the lab to pick up a square black box.

"Cannot. Not my place. Take package and proceed. Must finish work now. Also, congratulations on surviving another year. Odds of surviving this long slim considering circumstances. Hope birthday has gone well."

Garrus sighed and took the package. "Thanks."

As Garrus was exiting, he could have sworn he heard Mordin chuckle.

Garrus opened the package to reveal a key card. A small sticky note attached to the card read, "Level 1."

The only room on level 1 was Shepard's cabin.

He gulped nervously as he rode the elevator up.

As he approached Shepard's cabin, he pulled out the keycard, held it up to the door and the red circular lock on the door turned green. The door slid open and hissed closed behind him as he entered.

The room was almost completely dark, save two flickering candles to the left and right of the bed and the blue glow of the fish tank. A balloon floated near Shepard's private terminal, tied to the handle of her coffee cup.

Shepard stood in front of the bed, wearing nothing but her N7 jacket. Her long red hair was curled and fell gently over her shoulders. As she slowly pulled the jacket's zipper down, she looked into her lover's eyes, a sultry smile on her lips.

"Happy Birthday, Mr. Vakarian. Ready to unwrap one last thing?”


End file.
